Fluid check



A ril 27, 1965 R. R. LEADER ETAL 3,180,369

FLUID CHECK Filed Oct. 13. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS RICHARDROBERT LEADER JOHN MICHAEL LEADER DY hm April 27, 1965 R. R. LEADER ETAL3,180,369

FLUID CHECK 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 13, 1961 mm MED O NL f WJ H. NRBmMA w RM 0 M A Aw K R April 27, 1965 R. R. LEADER ET AL 3,180,369

FLUID CHECK Filed Oct. 15, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS RICHARDROBERT LEADER f JOHN MICHAEL LEADER United States Patent 3,186,369 FLUIDCHECK Richard Robert Leader and John Michael Leader, (Ihertsey, England,assignors to Richard R. Leader Limited, Chertsey, England, a Britishcompany Filed Oct. 13, 1961, Ser. No. 144,982 Claims priority,application Great Britain, Oct. 18, 196i 35,712/60; Mar. 17, 1961,9309/61 9 Claims. (Cl. 13-161) This invention comprises improvements inor relating to shuttle and like control devices for looms. In anautomatic loom the shuttle is thrown by picker sticks from side to sidethrough the warp threads at high speed and it is necessary to employ aform of buffer for the shuttle on the receiving end of the movement tocushion the shock of bringing the shuttle to rest. It has been proposedto employ an oleo-pneumatic device as the buffer for this purpose butsuch devices require to be accurately inflated to the requisite pressureand under the practical conditions which obtain in mills it is diificultto ensure that the inflation pressure will be correctly maintained. Itis an object or" the present invention to provide an alternative andmore easily regulated device.

Moreover, in an automatic loom the picker stick when it is operated tothrow the shuttle is accelerated very fast by a cam controlled device atthe appropriate moment in the cycle of operations. As the picker stickengages the shuttle it has to accelerate it and when it has acceleratedthe shuttle to its maximum speed the stick itself must be arrested in ashort distance and without damage. Usually this has been effected by astretched leather thong arranged across the path of movement or by arubber butter ring but when loom speeds are high leather thongs areinadequate and the life of butter rings is short. It is therefore afurther object of the present invention to provide means for moreeffectively arresting the picker stick. The invention provides a form ofbuffering device which has been found valuable both for arresting theshuttle and for arresting the picker-stick. Accordingly the inventionincludes a shuttle or picker-stick control device for a loom comprisinga buffer element adapted to be disposed in line with the shuttle orpicker-stick, a buffer-piston operatively connected to the bufier tomove therewith, a butter cylinder in which the iston works and whichserves as a butter-liquid container, a movable closure to thebutter-liquid container with which in use the buffer-liquid is in directcontact, and spring-means urging the closure inward.

It will be appreciated that the spring keeps the oil under pressure andafter the shuttle or the picker-stick has been arrested the oil pressurereturns the buffer to its initial position.

The area of the movable closure may be several times greater than thatof the butter piston so that the buffer piston may have an adequatestroke to cushion the moving part without causing the spring to haveundue deflection. In the preferred form the movable closure consists ofa flexible diaphragm and the spring is outside the diaphragm, where ifdesired it may be easily adjusted.

Preferably the buffer piston operates in the cylinder with clearance,the part of the cylinder behind the piston being partially closed by thenarrow clearance on the inward stroke so that the device acts as adashpot.

The following is a description, by way of example, of one constructionin accordance with the invention:

In the accompanying drawings FIGURE 1 is a general arrangement of partof a loom showing a buffer for the shuttle to bring it to rest and abuffer for the picker-stick to bring it to rest after the shuttle hasbeen shot,

FIGURE 2 is a vertical section through the butter for arresting theshuttle,

ddddfihd Patented Apr. 27, 1965 FIGURE 3 is a similar section throughthe buffer for arresting the picker-stick, and

FIGURE 4 shows an alternative shuttle control buffer.

Referring to FIGURE 1, 11 represents the shuttle which runs on a slay 12of a loom, part of the framework of which is indicated at 13. Theshuttle engages at the end of its movement a picker 14- Which isoperated by a picker-stick 15. All these parts are normal loom parts andin FEGURE 1 of the drawings there is shown an under-pick loom in whichthe picker-stick 15 engages the picker 14 from below. When the shuttleis thrown the pickensticl; 15 is moved rapidly from the position shownin full lines to the position shown in chain lines. It is necessary toarrest the shuttle when it engages the picker 14 and moves thepicker-stick with the picker to the full line position and it isnecessary to arrest the picker-stick 15 at the moment when it has shotthe shuttle back to the right, as viewed in the figure. In theconstruction shown in FIGURE 1, on the end of the slay 12 there is abracket 16 which carries a buffer cylinder castin 17 on which is mounteda buffer 18 to engage the back of the picker-stick and bring the shuttleto rest. There is also provided, mounted on a cross-member 19 of theloom, a second butter cylinder 2t) which operates a butler 21 in frontof the picker-stick to arrest the pick after it has shot the shuttle.

FIGURE 2 shows the interior of the buffer cylinder casting 17. Thecylinder has a face 22 carrying bolts 23 by which it may be secured tothe bracket 16.

The end of the cylinder 17 which faces the back of the picker-stick 15has a face which is closed by a removable cover 24. Through the coverthere passes a stout stem 25 which forms a piston rod and a suitablepacking ring or gland 26 is provided. The ring 26 is clamped between thecover 24 and the bottom of a recess in the face 22. Within the cylinderthe stem terminates in a piston face 27 and outside it carries a screwedhead 13 which forms a buffer and is covered with a rubber pad 28 toengage the back of the picker-stick. Outward movement of the piston rod25 is limited by a shoulder 36. The piston face 27 is smaller indiameter than the cylinder part of the cylinder casting 17 into which itenters. This cylinder part is delimited by a Wall 31 which is tapered sothat as the butter 18 is forced inwardly the clearance between thecylinder wall 31 and the piston 27 decreases. In front of the taperedportion 31 which surrounds the piston there is a large port 32 whichextends upwardly into an oil chamber 33 which is entirely filled withoil or other suitable buffer-liquid and covered in at the top with aflexible rubber diaphragm 34. Therefore a blow on the buffer will forcethe piston 27 rearwardly but in moving rearwardly the oil has to escapearound the clearance between the piston 27 and the cylinder wall 31 andthe force required to effect this increases as the butter is pushedrearwardly.

The diaphragm 34is clamped in place around its edges by a spring box 35which is secured to the cylinder casting 17 by screws 36 and whichcontains a strong helical spring 37. Between the spring and the rubberdiaphragm there is a steel washer 38 having a center spigot 3% whichserves to centre th spring relatively to the washer and the diaphragm.in the upper end of the spring box is a screwed plug 4t) which isco-axial with the spring and is supported in a threaded aperture in thetop of the spring box. The plug 40 has a fluted head whereby it can beadjusted. A plug 41 for filling the oil chamber with oil is provided.The diaphragm 34 is shaped so as to bulge upwardly before pressure isapplied to it.

In use, after the oil chamber 33 has been filled with oil, the oil isput under pressure by adjusting the plug at to compress the spring 37.This forces the piston 27 with its buffer 18 outwardly to the end of itsmovement.

As the bufier is in line withthe movement of the pickerstick it willhold the stick forward from its reamost posi- 'tion by an amount equalto the stroke of the buffer as shown in FIGURE 1. When the picker 14 ishit by the shuttle the butter 18 will be forced back and will ensurethat the shuttle is brought to rest with minimum shock and the spring 37will thenmove the buffer outwardly again to its normal position, wherethe picker-stick is ready to throw the shuttle back as soon asthe loommech anism operates it.

The movement made by the spring 37 and the diaphragm 34 is smallcompared with that of the piston 27 due to the large difference in thecross sectional areas A of the piston 27 and diaphragm 34. I Thepressure on the oil is readily adjustedby means of the plug 40 withoutrequiring any inflation. The exact position of .the butter 18 can beadjusted by reason of the 'fact that the head is mounted in the pistonrod 25 by a screwed stem 42 and fastened by a lock nut 43. 7

Referring now to FIGURE 3 of the drawings it will be seen that thebuffer cylinder 20 is substantially similar in general construction tothe buffer cylinder 17 already described but is inverted. It carriesstuds 45 for securing it to the cross-member 19 of the loom and itcomprises a tapered cylindrical portion 46 in a cap 47 secured to thecylinder body 20 by a threaded spigot. The

tapered cap 47 is in line with a piston 48 which forms the back end ofthe .stem 49 of the buffer and the stern works in a removable cap 50which also serves to hold in placea rubber sealing ring 51. As before,there is a shoulder 52 for limiting outward movement of the piston rod49. There is a port 53 leading laterally from the piston 48. into themain part of the oil chamber 54 within the cylinder block 20. The bottomof the oil chamber 54 is closed in by a diaphragm 55 which is clamped inplace by a spring box 56 containing a spring 57 which bears on thediaphragm 55 through a washer 58 and is adjustable by means of a screwedcap 59. There is a filling plug 60. All these parts operate in the sameway as with the buffer 18 but it will be appreciated that the strengthof the spring57 and its position of adjustment may be varied from thatofxthe butter 18 to allow for the fact that thepicker-stick, when it isto be arrested in the shot position, after the shuttle has left it, willbe travelling at a great speed and will have considerable momentum.

Referring to FIGURE 4, this shows an alternative arrangement for thedashpot 17 for use in an over pick loom. In this case the slay 12carries an end plate 61 and the cylinder 17 is bolted to it in aninverted position with the butter head 18 in line with the picker 62 andwith the axis of the shuttle 63. The general operation is however thesame as before.

Instead of using a rubber diaphragm as the movable closure for the oilchamber a spring-pressed piston could be employed. 7 I a to movetherewith, a container having a cylinder part" in spring means consistsof a spring located outside the diaphragm and provided with adjustmentmeans.

4. A control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bufier pistonoperates in the cylinder part with clearance,

a part of. the cylinder part behind the piston being partially closed bythe narrow clearance on the inward stroke so that the device acts as adashpotd 7 5. A control device for moving parts, namely shuttles andpicker-sticks in looms, comprising in combination a buffer cylindercasting having a cylinder part and a chamber communicating with thecylinder part, a gland in one wall of the cylinder part, a butter-pistonoperating in the gland and cylinder part and carrying a buflter headadapted to be set in line with the moving part to be controlled, aflexible closure which seals thetchamber against access of air, springmeans outwardly of the flexible closure to urge the flexible closureinto the chamber, and butter liquidicompletely filling the chamber andcylinder part. A control device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the areaof the closure is several times greater than the area of the piston.

7. A control device for moving parts, namely shuttles and picker-sticksin looms, comprising in combination a buffer cylinder casting having acylinder part and a chamber communicating with the cylinder part, agland in one Wall of the cylinder part, a buffer-piston operating in thegland and cylinder part and carrying a butter head adapted to be set inline with the moving part to be controlled, 2. flexible diaphragm whichextends across and seals the chamber against access of air, spring meansoutwardly of the diaphragm to urge the flexible diaphragm into thechamber, and buffer-liquid completely filling the chamber and cylinderpart.

8. A control device for moving parts, namely shuttles and picker-sticksin looms, comprising in combination a butter cylinder casting havingacylinder part and a chamber communicating with the cylinder part, agland in one wall of the cylinder part, a buffer-piston operating in thegland and cylinder part and carrying a buffer head adapted to be set inline with the moving part to be controlled, a flexible diaphragm whichextends across the chamber and seals it against access of air, a platebearing on the exterior of the diaphragm, a spring hearing on the plateto urge it toward the chamber, and buffer-liquid completely filling thechamber and cylinder part.

9. A control device for moving parts, namely shuttles and picker-sticksin looms, comprising in combination which. the buffer-piston works,butter liquid completely filling the container and the cylinder part, aflexible clo-,

sure to the container with which in use the butter liquid is in directcontact, the container, the closure and piston being totally sealedagainst passage of liquid into and out of the container and the cylinderpart, spring means urging the closure inward. a

2. A control device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the flexible closureconsists of a flexible diaphragm.

3. A control device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the chambercommunicating with the cylinder part, a gland in one wall of thecylinder part, a buffer-piston operating in the gland and cylinderparttand carrying a buffer head adapted to be set in line with themoving part to be controlled, a flexible diaphragmwhich extends acrossthe chamber and seals it against access of air, a plate bearing on theexterior of the diaphragm, a spring bearing on the plate to urge ittoward the chamber, adjustable means to back up the spring, andbutter-liquid completely filling the chamber and cylinder part.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,753,895 7/56vZarn l39161 2,856,035 10/58 Rohacs 188100 2,894,540 7 7/59 Zarn 139l612,914,089 11/59 Allinquant 188l00 3,008,746 11/61 Senger 267l 3,021,9262/62 Wasdell 188100 DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner. RUSSELLVC,MADER, Examiner.

1. A CONTROL DEVICE FOR SHUTTLES AND PICKER-STICKS IN LOOMS COMPRISINGIN COMBINATION A BUFFER ELEMENT ADAPTED TO BE DISPOSED IN LINE WITH THESHUTTLE OR PICKER-STICK, A BUFFER-PISTON OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THEBUFFER ELEMENT TO MOVE THEREWITH, A CONTAINER HAVING A CYLINDER PART INWHICH THE BUFFER-PISTON WORKS, BUFFER LIQUID COMPLETELY FILLING THECONTAINER AND THE CYLINDER PART, A FLEXIBLE CLOSURE TO THE CONTAINERWITH WHICH IN USE THE BUFFLER LIQUID IS IN DIRECT CONTACT, THECONTAINER, THE CLOSURE AND PISTON BEING TOTALLY SEALED AGAINST PASSAGEOF LIQUID INTO AND OUT OF THE CONTAINER AND THE CYLINDER PART, SPRINGMEANS URGING THE CLOSURE INWARD.